A Weekend Down South

A Day and a half down south produced a few little goodies.Hampshire produced Red Breasted Goose and Ring Billed Gull with Devon producing Surf Scoter,Cirl Bunting,Smew and Black Redstart.No Pics of the Surf Scoter due to it being a bit distant.

636 Miles Covered

A nice little selection of birds this weekend at Penzance and Dawlish Warren.Pacific Diver,GN Diver,RT Diver,Eider,Common Scoter,Velvet Scoter,Glaucous Gull,Med Gull,Bonxie,Grey Phal,Brent Goose(pale and dark bellied),Slav Grebe,Purple Sand and Waxwing to name a few.

Rare Filled Gwent!

What a year its been with Megas such as Iberian Chiff and not forgeting that june day at Bleanavon.Who would have guessed Britain's 5th (I Think)Marmora`s Warbler turning up here in wonderful Gwent.

The Gwent year list ended on 191 i gave it a good go and tried to connect with everything that graced gwent this year but still missed a few.Another highlight for me was Gwents 2nd Lesserlegs on the evening of the 28th of September leaving early next morning with only a few Gwent birders connecting.

So all in all a great year for Gwent on the rarity front and a good year county listing.

Other highlights throughout the year were a few day trips to various parts, and a few days twitching as well, with the highlights being Bufflehead,Black Kite,Oriental Pratincole,Great Reed Warbler,bobolink,Solitary Sandpiper,Green Heron and American Bittern. 

Best Of The Rest

No more Swans

A walk around a rapidly thawing Lr this morning produced no Bewicks Swans and no half expected Smew.Birds of note were 8 Mandarin 1 Med Gull 1 Goldeneye and a nice looking Bhgull.

Ice Age

River Usk At Caerleon

River Usk near Usk

Eight Waxwings opposite the Greyhound pub Usk



Whats going on.

Cant upload any more photos at the moment due to a message coming up saying I've used my 1GB quota.please buy some more(yeah right).did have this problem a month or so ago but cant remember what i did.

Aderyn Y Bwn

  Had a walk around Uskmouth this afternoon,not much about but the bird highlights were 1 Bittern seen by a couple we bumped into.3 Water Rail 3 Cettis heard and the starling roost held a nice big flock.The most vocal,loudest weirdest sounding Water Rail you've ever heard opposite the visitors centre.We could still hear it outside the gates on the main road.Almost run over a Little Owl that was sat on the road on the way home..

Garden Waxwings

Three waxwings flew over my head as i was finishing my cup of coffee on the back door this morning.Scoured Caerleon for an hour or so after but couldn't relocate them.On the way to Wentwood Reservoir i slowed down in Langstone by the old Hurrans Garden Centre and low and behold another two were raiding someones back garden.They're everywhere.Apart from that nothing else to report.Oh,Dartford Warbler reported this morning at Boat Lane.

The Things You Do To Try And Get A Year Tick.

Two crazy men went armed with a million candles to search out 10 Whooper Swans at Ponthir Reservoir this evening.Just double figure Goosander and Mallard to show for our efforts.

More Waxwings

8 at Maesglas industrial estate this afternoon.

190!!!

Nipped up to Ebbw Vale this morning to get my 190th Gwent species this year.

Morning Out In Pembs.

Arrived at Angle just after first light where the Squacco flew in after about 10 minutes.Checked out the Common Crane at Castle Martin.Lots of Chough about all over the place.Its about time Gwent had one.

R B MERG

Mega movement of Wood Pigeons this morning over Magor Marsh.A Male Mandarin at Wentwood Res and a Female Red-Breasted Merganser at Llandegfedd Res were my highlights over the weekend.

Another Pin Sharp Photo.

The Art Of Being Tight

Don't buy any fireworks this year,just watch the neighbours..What a display they put on.Very impressive!

All watched from the warmth of the house.

Pin Sharp photos

A few Pin sharp photos of the American Bittern at Walmsley Sanctuary this Morning.The bird gave excellent scope views from the packed tower hide.It even did a runner across from one ditch to another.Velvet Scoter was the best at Dawlish.The best at Exminster was a bacon a sarnie and a pot of tea in the cafe on the corner.We did have to wait a while as the pumped up Exminster over 60's keep fit class beat us to the till.

Number 2

A quick jaunt down to the pools just to keep ticking over.

WHERE ARE THE LAPS?

Laps in every county apart from Gwent No joy from many hours of searching.Come on Laps where are you?

A Few Days On Scilly

Had a few enjoyable days on scilly recently.We had regular stops for us to enjoy many cups of tea and cakes.Bird highlight for me was the Black-Eared Wheater.